sheep and goats and chickens, oh my

This afternoon was an open farm event at two of our favorite local farms. And, well, if you open a farm, we will come.

We visited the sheep farm first and saw that the sheep coats are a little less choppy than when we last saw them. And there were so many new lambs to become acquainted with, including these adorable suckling babies.

They even took a few minutes to visit with us after their snack.

The kids were highly amused at the lamb and chicken interaction. Who knew that a lamb's favorite pastime is chasing the farm chickens!

We also visited a small herd of mohair goats. They wouldn't get close enough for me to finger their soft curls on this visit, but if memory serves me correctly, they are quite soft and lovely.

Finn was eager to visit the farm store for some red yarn. He has been asking me to teach him to knit recently, and a boy needs red yarn if he's going to learn to knit properly.

Elizabeth and her friend just enjoyed watching all the lambs grazing in the field and trying to coax them close to the fence for petting.

After a sufficient visit with the sheep, we headed to the goat farm where, of course, the first animal we spotted was a frog. :) I was thrilled for Finn to see a frog hanging out in the water completely submersed because we've just begun talking about amphibians and this will be a perfect reference for him to understand their sometimes water-dwelling, sometimes land-dwelling habits.

Finding the kid goats was a thrill for the kid humans. They spent the majority of our time at the goat farm hanging out on this fence feeding grass to the goats.

Finn took a special liking to Mary, the goat. He kept talking to her, calling her by name and coaxing her to stay by him and keep eating his grass, which she happily complied.

Finn and Mary developed quite a bond. Several of the adults standing around mentioned how sweet they were together. I almost want to run right out and buy a goat for Finn!

Once Finn pried himself from Mary's side, we visited the hen house. One coop housed the "teenager" chickens. The kids were able to pet 3 different varieties of chicks.

And we peeked into the windows of the adult hen house. We even saw a few eggs in the boxes. What a wonderful experience for our kids to see all the inner workings of the farm!